TO BE called racist in 21st-century Britain is “the same as being branded a witch in the Middle Ages”, a senior member of the British National Party told a court yesterday.

Mark Collett, accused of seeking to stir up racial hatred, claimed that he and the BNP spoke the truth but were victims of “the political correctness that pervades every section of modern life”. Mr Collett, 24, and the party’s leader, Nick Griffin, face charges linked to campaign speeches made at BNP meetings in West Yorkshire during the 2004 local elections.

Giving evidence for the defence, Mr Collett told Leeds Crown Court that everything he had said was “100 per cent factual” and was supported by press cuttings, a television documentary and, in one case, a police tip-off. Claims that he stood by included allegations that Asian males were going to schools in Keighley and soliciting white children for sex; a firing range had been found under a Bradford mosque, where there was firearms training; asylum-seekers were given preferential housing treatment; and that no asylum-seekers were in Britain legitimately because they should have claimed asylum in the first peaceful country they reached.

Mr Collett, small and slight, in a grey suit with a pink shirt and tie, told the jury that “editors and reporters feel obliged to downplay criminal acts by members of ethnic minority communities. They don’t want to be branded racist.” The BNP, he said, sought to highlight the “grotesque media inequality” in the coverage of racist attacks, and his speeches aimed “to stir up political activity, not racial hatred”, to give people "a legal and democratic outlet for their opinions”.

Mr Collett said that he did not hate asylum-seekers or Asian people. He hated the white, liberal Establishment and particularly the Labour Party, who “allowed them to come here”. He said that, having stood as a BNP candidate in Leeds council elections, he had seen the “white victims” of multiculturalism. “The liberals who vilify the BNP, who say we’re racists, they never walk down these streets.

“When we say you’re reporting this wrong, the media, the Labour Party, say we’re racist. They try to shut the door on political debate by name-calling. There’s nothing worse today than being called racist. It’s the same as being branded a witch in the Middle Ages.”

Mr Collett said that his speeches had been heard only by party supporters. There were no Asian people in the audience “so there was no one there to be insulted, abused or threatened by what was being said”.

Mr Collett, of Rothley, Leicestershire, denies intending to stir up racial hatred and alternative charges of conduct likely to stir up racial hatred. Mr Griffin, 45, also denies the charges.

The trial continues.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Should Knox’s trial even have reached the courtroom?
• All that glitters is not sold in Wright’s world
• Believe it or not, Big Brother is your friend